


Shankar Tripathi's Kaali Gobhi or "Baap battery se chalte hain"

by I_Shouldnt_Be_Here



Category: Shubh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan (2020)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author apologises in advance, Author messed up this is Part 2 of the Aman's Family series, Boys In Love, Boys Kissing, Don't worry peeps I got translations, Hoo boy this is a roller coaster, Implied homophobia, Inside Shankar's head, M/M, One Shot, Romance, The Infamous kaali gobhi, There's some beautiful scenery besmirched by burning cauliflowers, This is Shankar I'm talking about so, Title translates to Shankar Tripathi's black cauliflower or "Dads run on batteries", Use of Hinglish dialogues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-14
Updated: 2020-04-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23651782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_Shouldnt_Be_Here/pseuds/I_Shouldnt_Be_Here
Summary: Shankar Tripathi plans a wedding for his son, but is baffled when he finds him kissing a boy. Sometimes all experiments don't work out the way you wanted to. Kartik convinces him that it's okay when that happens.
Relationships: Kartik Singh/Aman Tripathi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This works features heavy usage of Hinglish, or Hindi written in the Roman script. I've got translations in the second chapter for all you beautiful people who do not speak Hindi. I do not like translations to break the flow of the story, hence the compromise.

“Arre train nikal jayegi!”

“Bola tha na autowale se jhagda nahi karne!”

“Kya karta, bhaavnaaon me beh gaya.”

“Abey idhar mat shuru ho jaana, bhaag saale  _ bhaag _ !” Aman breaks into a run.

Kartik, his ridiculously long-legged boyfriend gets a late start but still reaches the compartment ahead of him.

Aman huffs and pants to catch up, Kartik jumps a long leap and offers his arm to Aman.

Aman manages to hold on and boards the train. Leaving Kartik alone with the  _ whole _ Tripathi family would be a disaster.

Kartik pulls him into a tight hug and takes his presence in.

“Ek aur movie ke  _ iconic _ scene ko hum dono ne recreate kar liya. Wo bhi iss wahiyaat toothpaste Shaktimaan costume mei.” Kartik whispers.

“Pata nahi kya, iss toothpaste mei  _ pyaar _ hai.” Aman nudges Kartik’s shoulder playfully.

…

They get changed into normal clothes from that ridiculous superhero costume. 

Trust Aman's family to break into a random dance sequence inside a train. The wedding season was supposed to lift everyone’s spirits, but this was the first time such a large group of people got positively _ high  _ on it.

Aman and Kartik contributed their own moves into the dance sequence. Aman was shyly glancing at a fair, beautiful girl who was definitely  _ not _ part of the family. Kartik whipped out his over-the-top moves, Aman saw Goggle giving him  _ heart eyes  _ and then the tables turned.  _ Jealousy wise _ .

Then suddenly Kartik broke away from the scene towards the washroom.

Kartik put his back against the ubiquitous blue railway wall and looked at Aman like he wanted to  _ devour _ him.

“Aise kya dekh raha hai?”

Kartik envelops him in a hug and because of the height difference, his head is almost perpendicular to Aman’s shoulders. Aman feels the bolts, metal doorframe and handle against his back but it’s barely a hassle.

Kartik licks Aman’s neck and bites his pulse point gently. Aman lets out a yelp.

“Abhi nahi!”

“Bahut din ho gaye yaar…” Kartik’s irises are black.

“Baad mei!” Kartik’s shoulders receive a harsh shove.

“I need your touch.” Kartik says decisively. Aman gives in, like he always does after feeling Kartik against him.

Both of their lips meet in a fierce kiss, with intervals of salt and stubble. Kartik tastes his lover's lips, delectable even inside a train running in the late afternoon heat.

The train enters a tunnel, and this becomes an invitation to deepen their displays of affection in the sporadic darkness.

Aman completely loses himself in the kiss. He kissed Kartik again and again as if he might disappear any moment. 

This was unlike Aman Tripathi, who was very fastidious about their privacy.

But, the  _ 'heat of the moment' _ is the most underestimated force after all.

...

Shankar Tripathi walked towards the washroom, and witnessed blasphemy.

His son… Kissing... A man! That scene fried his circuits instantly.

He felt bile rising to his throat. He positioned his head out of the heavy metal door, puked and passed out.

…

“Baaki sab toh theek lagta hai, aap unko ye waali dawaiyaan de deejiye.”

Shankar Tripathi gained consciousness to find a doctor bent over his open mouth with a flashlight. His eyes went wide.

“Haaye, dekho neend khul gayi sahabzaade ki.” Sunaina interjects.

“Sunaina ye sab kya chal raha hai?”

“Wahi to mai aap se poochu, ghar me shaadi ka tanaav kaafi nahi tha ki aap bhi achaanak se ludhak gaye. Mujhe sardard dena kab bandh kariyega?” She scoffs.

“Matlab, mai behosh ho gaya?” 

“Haan ji, kitni baar bola hai blood pressure, cholesterol ka dhyaan rakhiye… tch. Waise aisa kya ho gaya ki aapki yeh haalat?” 

“Kuch nahi, baad me batataa hoon.” He brushes her off. She gives a 'told-you-so' look to Champa and goes off to mind her own business.

With these words, the images of a few hours ago come rushing to his mind in staccato pictures, as if recording the memory in one continuous shot was  _ too much _ for his brain. 

The train entered a tunnel into pitch black darkness broken by rectangles of yellow light. In those rectangles, Shankar saw Aman kissing this boy, Kartik. After becoming aware of his presence they shoved each other away, expressions degrading into shame, shock and disbelief.

The strange fact was that the whole moment looked like a series of comic book panels, already becoming  _ unreal _ in his head.

_ Beta haath se gaya. _

_ Lekin Shankar Tripathi bhi scientist hai.  _

His resolve strengthens. He didn't want to think of his son as an experiment, but he knew of no other way. He was determined to simplify the whole situation into a problem-solution-problem thread.

_ What do you do when the experiment doesn’t provide you data to prove your hypothesis? _

_ You redesign the experiment. _

…

He observed Kartik and Aman carefully over the next few days. Whenever both of them disappeared together somewhere, he was assaulted by the yellow comic book frames in his head. 

_ Arey hadd to tab ho gayi when Aman had the audacity to kiss that  _ **_boy_ ** _ Kartik in public, during Goggle’s wedding, right next to the Kalyan mandap. _

_ Shankar’s jaw remained loose due to the shock for an entire day. _

…

“Beta, tumhari shaadi Kusum se hogi.”

In reply, Aman began a monologue featuring neurotransmitters dopamine, cortisol, corticotrophin and oxytocin, about how his love wasn’t wrong. When Sunaina retorted with “Medical science ne bahut tarakki ki hai, tum theek ho jaoge.” Then the frustration and sadness on Aman’s face was palpable.

“Bahut accha mummy, aapka oxytocin pyaar aur mera oxytocin bimaari?”

Keeping Aman’s objectionable actions aside, Shankar couldn’t help but feel a hint of pride as a father at how far his son had come from the days when he used to be  _ amazed _ whenever he said “Karela  _ fruit _ hai lekin apple nahi...” 

A botanist father had very few tricks to impress his son with.

“Yeh beta bhi na, purey khaandaan ke saamne isne naak kataa di.” 

“Aur jo aapne apni kaali gobhi ke wajah see purey Allahabad me naak kataa di? Uska kya? Curfew lag gaya aap ke liye.” Sunaina retorts.

The very next moment he brushes off his son's and his wife’s words.

…

In the days that followed, Shankar Tripathi's worldview fought a losing battle with his family just when he was sure that he would win. Aman had agreed to marry Kusum but wrenches seemed to throw themselves into plans involving his son’s life.

Kartik Singh, the man who claimed to be Aman’s  _ lover _ (that still left a sour taste in his mouth) proclaimed, 

“Shankar Tripathi, hai beemaar, bahut beemaar.”

He did not pay attention to what Kartik was about to say, instead he came out bearing a long wooden pole to beat him up.

_ Rani ke liye _

_ Aman ke liye _

_ Mere nakamiyaab experiments ke liye _

_ Mere bete ko aise banane ke liye _

_ Aise kyu dikhte ho? _

_ Jab se aaye thhe mujhe doubt thha. _

_ Nature ke khilaaf jaane ka itna shauk hai, lekin mera beta hi kyun? _

That disgusting creature of a man became a target for all of his frustrations plaguing him for the past thirty years.

Shankar thought that beating him up would be a cathartic experience.

“My sexuality is my sexuality, none of your sexuality.” Kartik passed out.

The boy physically seemed to shrink. Something inside Shankar also broke, and the poison brewing inside him multiplied. He could barely breathe under the weight of his misdeeds.

…

After beating Kartik up, he became the villain of the family. Everyone was glad to target him and burden their own frustrations on Shankar’s shoulders. The taunts increased in frequency over the next few days, beginning with Goggle laughing at Aman’s  _ naamkaran  _ as Chandravadhan. Her laugh convinced him that it wasn’t as good of an idea as he had thought. 

Sunaina pitched a fit because she discovered Rani’s pictures. 

Chaman dragged him into a land dispute. 

Keshav explained to him about sex and sexuality in his bumbling way. He wasn't ready to hear these words in public.

Kusum ran away from her own wedding.

The last straw was when Kartik split open his creation, the kaali gobhi and showed him what a failure it was.

“Hum bhi dekhte hai ki kaun si science nature ko  _ change _ kar sakti hai.” He split it open to show the insects crawling inside.

His ego couldn't take it and it shattered. He went to his laboratory to check a and discovered that all the cauliflowers had insects crawling in it. He cradled his head in his hands and realised what his life actually was. A sunk cost fallacy.

His convictions broke down in front of his eyes and images of his wrong decisions assaulted him at breakneck speed.

_ Aaj denial ka pardaa  _ **_scientist_ ** _ ki aankhon se kisi aur ko hatana pada. _

Oh, how the tables turn.

Shankar, a broken man, tried to put up a fight when that boy married Aman under a  _ ghoonghat  _ of deceit. But then the whole family  _ laughed  _ at him like he was the actual fool.

He saw the love in both of their eyes, and remembered what Sunaina told him. About how she would not let him lead an incomplete life like theirs. Shankar felt  _ resignation  _ at that point, more so when the police arrived. He decided that his son’s life wasn’t a controllable experiment. There were too many variables involved. 

For now, he had other things to take care of.

…

He loaded up a wheelbarrow with all his plants and a bottle of kerosene and snuck out of the house. The boys were enjoying a moment of peace after their marriage when they noticed that Aman’s father had disappeared. The presence of policemen in the house added to the discomfort.

He trudged along to the banks of the Ganga with a covered face. The roads were eerie because of the curfew.

His shoulders were hunched but if he had taken a moment to straighten up and look at the blue evening sky, he would have found  _ forgiveness  _ amidst the grey pollution.

He dumped the cauliflowers in a heap on the riverside, poured kerosene and set fire to a mistake.

His sense of  _ resignation _ grew deeper. The black smoke wafted, danced, rose and became a part of the atmosphere. The orange flames contrasted with the pastel sky. He looked at the concrete ledge surrounding the Ganga and thought of the scores of lovers who might have sat there for an evening rendezvous. Kartik and Aman also might have been two of them, holding hands with the Ganga as a meandering witness.

He looked at the tired river herself. How she sluggishly flowed alongside this vast ocean of humanity and just accepted whatever that ocean brought. Aarti flowers, lit diyas, industrial effluent, ashes of the dead which were cremated on these very banks, and putrid bodies of the ones who did not find enough space or means for a funeral. They did not find enough space or means in life and in death.

The pastel early evening sky was giving way to a more magnificent royal blue. He could hear the bells of the evening aarti, funeral processions and the crackling splutters of his burning mistakes.

But, the resigned acceptance of the Ganga has its limits. She bursts her banks in violent floods whenever this limit is crossed.

Similarly, Shankar Tripathi burst his banks in a heart-wrenching series of sobs. The smoke invaded his nostrils and coughs joined in this cacophony. 

When the smoke cleared and only ashes were left, he emerged with new clarity.

_ When the experiment goes wrong, you do not redesign it. _

_ Sometimes you need to revise your hypothesis. _

…

“Aao, station tak chhod deta hun.” The bike lets out a violent splutter from behind and the two boys let go of their intertwined hands with a gasp.

Kartik insisted on riding the bike with him and Aman riding pillion. At first he was apprehensive on holding on to him because he was  _ gay _ but then Aman pushed his hands over Kartik’s shoulders. Aman was afraid that his father would get a cracked skull due to his misplaced beliefs.

They reach the station soon and both of them walk towards the platform.

“Chalta hun, papa.” Kartik said. He wasn’t ready yet to acknowledge that he had a son-in-law for his  _ son. _

“Papa bolne ki zarurat nahi.” He says, clearly uncomfortable.

“Papaji chalega?” Kartik didn’t give him any other option, because in his heart he had already accepted Shankar as a  _ father. _

“Papa theek hai.” He deigns.

While walking towards the platform, Kartik noticed the painfully hunched shoulders of Aman’s father and impulsively rushed to hug him from behind. 

In that moment, Shankar realised he had hurt a beautiful person with a heart larger than what the world deserved. He had hit Kartik so violently, yet all that he had to offer was love and comfort. Shankar let out a softer sob this time and Kartik let this moment of vulnerability pass.

“Beta, pata nahi ki mai tumhare aur Aman ke rishte ko kabhi samajh paunga ya nahi, par aaj ye pata chal gaya ki tum hi usey khush rakh sakte ho.”

At this, Kartik let out a silent tear himself. Aman watched this moment from the distance and celebrated a small battle won.

Shankar allowed Kartik to hug him for a moment more.

And he allowed his heart to love.

To love Kartik as a son.

_ Aakhir pyaar bhi toh science hi hai. _

…


	2. Dads Run On Batteries

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the chapter fully translated in English!

“The train will leave without us!”

“I told you not to pick a fight with the auto driver!”

“I got carried away.”

“Don't start with your explanations, run, you fool, _run_ !” Aman breaks into a run.

Kartik, his ridiculously long-legged boyfriend gets a late start but still reaches the compartment ahead of him.

Aman huffs and pants to catch up, Kartik jumps a long leap and offers his arm to Aman.

Aman manages to hold on and boards the train. Leaving Kartik alone with the  _ whole _ Tripathi family would be a disaster.

Kartik pulls him into a tight hug and takes his presence in.

“We managed to recreate the scenes of one more iconic film . That too in this Toothpaste Superman costume.” Kartik whispers.

“Don't you know, this toothpaste got _love_ in it .” Aman nudges Kartik’s shoulder playfully.

…

They get changed into normal clothes from that ridiculous superhero costume. 

Trust Aman's family to break into a random dance sequence inside a train. The wedding season was supposed to lift everyone’s spirits, but this was the first time such a large group of people got positively _ high  _ on it.

Aman and Kartik contributed their own moves into the dance sequence. Aman was shyly glancing at a fair, beautiful girl who was definitely  _ not _ part of the family. Kartik whipped out his over-the-top moves, Aman saw Goggle giving him  _ heart eyes  _ and then the tables turned.  _ Jealousy wise _ .

Then suddenly Kartik broke away from the scene towards the washroom.

Kartik put his back against the ubiquitous blue railway wall and looked at Aman like he wanted to  _ devour _ him.

“What are you looking at?”

Kartik envelops him in a hug and because of the height difference, his head is almost perpendicular to Aman’s shoulders. Aman feels the bolts, metal doorframe and handle against his back but it’s barely a hassle.

Kartik licks Aman’s neck and bites his pulse point gently. Aman lets out a yelp.

“Not now!”

“It's been so many days…” Kartik’s irises are black.

“Later!” Kartik’s shoulders receive a harsh shove.

“I need your touch.” Kartik says decisively. Aman gives in, like he always does after feeling Kartik against him.

Both of their lips meet in a fierce kiss, with intervals of salt and stubble. Kartik tastes his lover's lips, delectable even inside a train running in the late afternoon heat.

The train enters a tunnel, and this becomes an invitation to deepen their displays of affection in the sporadic darkness.

Aman completely loses himself in the kiss. He kissed Kartik again and again as if he might disappear any moment. 

This was unlike Aman Tripathi, who was very fastidious about their privacy.

But, the  _ 'heat of the moment' _ is the most underestimated force after all.

...

Shankar Tripathi walked towards the washroom, and witnessed blasphemy.

His son… Kissing... A man! That scene fried his circuits instantly.

He felt bile rising to his throat. He positioned his head out of the heavy metal door, puked and passed out.

…

“Everything else looks alright, give him these medicines.”

Shankar Tripathi gained consciousness to find a doctor bent over his open mouth with a flashlight. His eyes went wide.

“Oh, the Lord awakens.” Sunaina interjects.

“Sunaina what is wrong in here?”

“I should ask you that question. The wedding season is not enough that you had to faint because of it?” She scoffs.

“Meaning, I fainted?” 

“Yes sir, I've told you so many times to keep tabs on your blood pressure and cholesterol… tch. Anyway what happened that you're in this state?” 

“I'll tel you later.” He brushes her off. She gives a 'told-you-so' look to Champa and goes off to mind her own business.

With these words, the images of a few hours ago come rushing to his mind in staccato pictures, as if recording the memory in one continuous shot was  _ too much _ for his brain. 

The train entered a tunnel into pitch black darkness broken by rectangles of yellow light. In those rectangles, Shankar saw Aman kissing this boy, Kartik. After becoming aware of his presence they shoved each other away, expressions degrading into shame, shock and disbelief.

The strange fact was that the whole moment looked like a series of comic book panels, already becoming  _ unreal _ in his head.

_ This boy is getting out of hand. _

_ But Shankar Tripathi knows how to earn his salt as a scientist.  _

His resolve strengthens. He didn't want to think of his son as an experiment, but he knew of no other way. He was determined to simplify the whole situation into a problem-solution-problem thread.

_ What do you do when the experiment doesn’t provide you data to prove your hypothesis? _

_ You redesign the experiment. _

…

He observed Kartik and Aman carefully over the next few days. Whenever both of them disappeared together somewhere, he was assaulted by the yellow comic book frames in his head. 

_ Arey hadd to tab ho gayi when Aman had the audacity to kiss that  _ **_boy_ ** _ Kartik in public, during Goggle’s wedding, right next to the wedding hall. _

_ Shankar’s jaw remained loose due to the shock for an entire day. _

…

“Son, you'll get married to Kusum.”

In reply, Aman began a monologue featuring neurotransmitters dopamine, cortisol, corticotrophin and oxytocin, about how his love wasn’t wrong. When Sunaina retorted with “You'll be cured, there's nothing medical science can't fix.” Then the frustration and sadness on Aman’s face was palpable.

“Okay mom, your oxytocin is love and mine is a disease?”

Keeping Aman’s objectionable actions aside, Shankar couldn’t help but feel a hint of pride as a father at how far his son had come from the days when he used to be  _ amazed _ whenever he said “The calabash is a fruit but the apple isn't ...” 

A botanist father had very few tricks to impress his son with.

“This son will bring sham to the whole family.” 

“And what about you? Your black cauliflowers have brought the whole of Allahabad under curfew.” Sunaina retorts.

The very next moment he brushes off his son's and his wife’s words.

…

In the days that followed, Shankar Tripathi's worldview fought a losing battle with his family just when he was sure that he would win. Aman had agreed to marry Kusum but wrenches seemed to throw themselves into plans involving his son’s life.

Kartik Singh, the man who claimed to be Aman’s  _ lover _ (that still left a sour taste in his mouth) proclaimed, 

“Shankar Tripathi, is sick, very sick.”

He did not pay attention to what Kartik was about to say, instead he came out bearing a long wooden pole to beat him up.

_ For Rani _

_ For Aman _

_For my failed experiments_

_ For making my son behave this way _

_ Why the hell do you look like this? _

_ I had doubts about you the moment you stepped into this house. _

_ You want to go against nature so bad, but why my son? _

That disgusting creature of a man became a target for all of his frustrations plaguing him for the past thirty years.

Shankar thought that beating him up would be a cathartic experience.

“My sexuality is my sexuality, none of your sexuality.” Kartik passed out.

The boy physically seemed to shrink. Something inside Shankar also broke, and the poison brewing inside him multiplied. He could barely breathe under the weight of his misdeeds.

…

After beating Kartik up, he became the villain of the family. Everyone was glad to target him and burden their own frustrations on Shankar’s shoulders. The taunts increased in frequency over the next few days, beginning with Goggle laughing at Aman’s  _ naamkaran  _ as Chandravadhan. Her laugh convinced him that it wasn’t as good of an idea as he had thought. 

Sunaina pitched a fit because she discovered Rani’s pictures. 

Chaman dragged him into a land dispute. 

Keshav explained to him about sex and sexuality in his bumbling way. He wasn't ready to hear these words in public.

Kusum ran away from her own wedding.

The last straw was when Kartik split open his creation, the kaali gobhi and showed him what a failure it was.

“Hum bhi dekhte hai ki kaun si science nature ko  _ change _ kar sakti hai.” He split it open to show the insects crawling inside.

His ego couldn't take it and it shattered. He went to his laboratory to check a and discovered that all the cauliflowers had insects crawling in it. He cradled his head in his hands and realised what his life actually was. A sunk cost fallacy.

His convictions broke down in front of his eyes and images of his wrong decisions assaulted him at breakneck speed.

_Today, the curtain of denial is lifted from a **scientist's** eyes by someone else._

Oh, how the tables turn.

Shankar, a broken man, tried to put up a fight when that boy married Aman under a veil  of deceit. But then the whole family  _ laughed  _ at him like he was the actual fool.

He saw the love in both of their eyes, and remembered what Sunaina told him. About how she would not let him lead an incomplete life like theirs. Shankar felt  _ resignation  _ at that point, more so when the police arrived. He decided that his son’s life wasn’t a controllable experiment. There were too many variables involved. 

For now, he had other things to take care of.

…

He loaded up a wheelbarrow with all his plants and a bottle of kerosene and snuck out of the house. The boys were enjoying a moment of peace after their marriage when they noticed that Aman’s father had disappeared. The presence of policemen in the house added to the discomfort.

He trudged along to the banks of the Ganga with a covered face. The roads were eerie because of the curfew.

His shoulders were hunched but if he had taken a moment to straighten up and look at the blue evening sky, he would have found  _ forgiveness  _ amidst the grey pollution.

He dumped the cauliflowers in a heap on the riverside, poured kerosene and set fire to a mistake.

His sense of  _ resignation _ grew deeper. The black smoke wafted, danced, rose and became a part of the atmosphere. The orange flames contrasted with the pastel sky. He looked at the concrete ledge surrounding the Ganga and thought of the scores of lovers who might have sat there for an evening rendezvous. Kartik and Aman also might have been two of them, holding hands with the Ganga as a meandering witness.

He looked at the tired river herself. How she sluggishly flowed alongside this vast ocean of humanity and just accepted whatever that ocean brought. Aarti flowers, lit diyas, industrial effluent, ashes of the dead which were cremated on these very banks, and putrid bodies of the ones who did not find enough space or means for a funeral. They did not find enough space or means in life and in death.

The pastel early evening sky was giving way to a more magnificent royal blue. He could hear the bells of the evening aarti, funeral processions and the crackling splutters of his burning mistakes.

But, the resigned acceptance of the Ganga has its limits. She bursts her banks in violent floods whenever this limit is crossed.

Similarly, Shankar Tripathi burst his banks in a heart-wrenching series of sobs. The smoke invaded his nostrils and coughs joined in this cacophony. 

When the smoke cleared and only ashes were left, he emerged with new clarity.

_ When the experiment goes wrong, you do not redesign it. _

_ Sometimes you need to revise your hypothesis. _

…

“Come. let me drop you to the station.” The bike lets out a violent splutter from behind and the two boys let go of their intertwined hands with a gasp.

Kartik insisted on riding the bike with him and Aman riding pillion. At first he was apprehensive on holding on to him because he was  _ gay _ but then Aman pushed his hands over Kartik’s shoulders. Aman was afraid that his father would get a cracked skull due to his misplaced beliefs.

They reach the station soon and both of them walk towards the platform.

“I'll get going, dad.” Kartik said. He wasn’t ready yet to acknowledge that he had a son-in-law for his  _ son. _

“There's no need to call me dad.” He says, clearly uncomfortable.

“Will 'father' do?” Kartik didn’t give him any other option, because in his heart he had already accepted Shankar as a  _ father. _

“'Dad' is okay.” He deigns.

While walking towards the platform, Kartik noticed the painfully hunched shoulders of Aman’s father and impulsively rushed to hug him from behind. 

In that moment, Shankar realised he had hurt a beautiful person with a heart larger than what the world deserved. He had hit Kartik so violently, yet all that he had to offer was love and comfort. Shankar let out a softer sob this time and Kartik let this moment of vulnerability pass.

“Son, I don't know whether I'll ever be able to understand your and Aman's relationship, but I know that you are the only one who could keep my son happy.”

At this, Kartik let out a silent tear himself. Aman watched this moment from the distance and celebrated a small battle won.

Shankar allowed Kartik to hug him for a moment more.

And he allowed his heart to love.

To love Kartik as a son.

_ Love is a science after all. _

…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The movie is Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, an Iconic Bollywood film. I hope you liked it!  
> Kudos and comments make my day!  
> Have a good morning/evening/day/night  
> -Adv

**Author's Note:**

> (late) Shubho Nabobarsho to all the Bongs reading this!  
> I have been cheated out of a chance at buying new clothes:'( Anyway, jokes apart, I hope y'all are having a good day!
> 
> This hurt me to write! I tried to keep the homophobia out but this wouldn't have done justice to the character. Also the plot would have been a little too linear for my taste. I was stuck, but then I came across this beautiful poem by Alpenglow3241 called "Oh Ganga Behti Ho Kyun" and I couldn't help but get inspired.  
> Huge shoutout to them for rescuing me from writer's block.  
> And a huge shoutout to Tinesvisce and Monamoni for being comrades-in-arms and for those long, verbal hug comments!  
> I suggest you check out their work... You'll find good things in there.  
> (Next is Goggle/Rajni's piece, so stay tuned!)  
> Kudos and comments make my day!  
> Have a good morning/evening/afternoon/night :)  
> -Adv


End file.
